Possibilities
by Pupu-Nini
Summary: What if Ash was the Chroma and he lived with Phantom Marona? The two take on life with new allies, but tensions rise among them creating problems. Life is hard, too, as Ash juggles personal matters and jobs. How will they make ends meet? Chapter 4 up!
1. A Long Awaited Job

Chapter One: A Long Awaited Job

"Ash, Ash! Wake up!" A small green haired girl shouted, with much excitement, as she ran up the old wooden stairs. Her white dress waved as she ran. She scurried down the hallway past two shut doors to the only open one the end. She smiled as she entered the room that Ash slept in.

Ash was deep in sleep, though, and couldn't hear that the girl was trying to get his attention. His mouth was wide open, saliva flowing out like a waterfall, a soft snoring sound blasted as he breathed through his nostrils. His blue top and bottom of his pajamas were ruffled up just like the sheets on his bed were. The young girl placed her hands on her hips and made a frown as she observed untidiness of the sheets hanging off the bed.

"Why are boys such messy sleepers?" She said to herself, "I never used to make this much of a mess when I slept."

The young girl turned around and peered down the hall at the first closed door on her right, she was reminded of the times when she had the ability to sleep. A swelling a sadness overcame her, a tear would of escaped her eye, but her heart cried what her eyes could not. Quickly, she broke the almost hypnotic hold that room had on her and dismissed her feelings. She continued to yell at the sleeping boy.

"Ash, get up now! You have to check this out!" She shouted again stopping her feet one the floor, although they made no sound. All the power she had to wake him up was her voice which could not be raised any louder.

After much more yelling Ash began to stir. He tossed and turned a bit and then finally he made a wet smacking noise with his lips.

"My…mouth is dry…" he mumbled with his eyes closed.

"Ash, hurry up! It's really important!" The girl practically begged.

Ash scratched his head through is tangled mess of dark blue hair and stretched his arms out as he rose up. The sun shone into his sleepy half opened eyes. He turned his head away then rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, then finally began to make an effort to open them up all the way.

"Marona, what's up? You seem to be shouting more than usual." Ash teased.

Marona crossed her arms and made a nagging face. "Ash, finally you woke up. There's a bunch of new Bottle Mail for you down stairs. One of them is red, it must be urgent."

"More mail? I don't want to bother with it." He growled as he walked past Marona. She frowned.

Marona followed Ash out of the room and tried to convince him to check the mail, "Ash, what if the red ones a job offer. We could really use the money."

Ash knew Marona had a good point. Ash needed the job badly, the rent was overdue for the island and he was lucky Sienna was being so gracious to let them stay. Ash halted right before the stairs and rubbed his eyes with one hand. Marona stopped right behind him.

"Ok, I'll check the mail, but only the red one, because it must be important. I don't like opening junk mail."

"I know how much you hate junk mail, Ash; it's really weird that we started getting in the first place, though. When Jasmine and Haze were alive we never got any junk mail at all."

Marona's statement cut through Ash like a sword. Marona still hadn't figured out, in these years, what the junk mail really was or why it was being sent. If Marona knew, she would understand why Ash dreaded checking the mail, but Ash was determined to never let her find out that the "junk mail" was actually hate mail. He was too ashamed.

"Marona, you haven't opened any of the Bottle Mail have you?" Ash questioned, not turning to her.

"No, Ash, I would never do that, it's addressed to you. Besides I can't really open it that well without tangible hands."

Ash felt relieved and continued to walk downstairs. Marona never really messed with the mail often; she just announced its presence, so she didn't know that the little Bottle Mails would gladly show you the letter they carried if you asked.

Surely enough when Ash finished down the stairs right in to the kitchen three Bottle mail were roaming around the floor. When they noticed the presence of Ash and Marona they quickly lined up ready to deliver their messages. The red on was in front and the two light-yellowish ones were in back.

"How'd they get in the kitchen if you can't open the door?" Ash queried.

"They stacked on each other and opened the door. It was really funny to watch, but so cute." Marona squeezed her hands together.

Ash crouched down and pulled the cork out of the red one. It's little string like arms were crossed. He then pulled out the message. It was a clean white piece of paper scrolled up neatly. Marona tried to peek her head over Ash's shoulder to see.

"Is it a job?" Marona asked bobbing in excitement.

Ash uncurled the paper, took a quick look and put it up on the table he was crouching beside. "It's a just a notice from Sienna. She says we are almost two months behind."

Marona stood still, "Aw, how are we gonna pay her without a job?"

"I don't know, Marona? She gave another whole month to get the money and we have almost used it up. She's being lenient with us because my parents knew her well, but she still is running a business and she can't just give us the island."

"Well, maybe the other two Bottle Mail have something good." Marona said with hope.

"I'll check." Ash moved to the next Bottle Mail.

Ash pulled the letter out unrolled it. It read:

"Dear Freak,

Stop giving my child nightmares! I know it's you and your demons! Why don't you just leave him alone? Or do your evil powers come from the fears of us HUMANS?"

Ash crumbled the letter in anger and threw it across the room. "Stupid people!" He roared.

Marona didn't say anything and assumed it was junk mail.

Ash angrily moved on to the next Bottle Mail. He expected to find another hate letter, but took the risk anyway. He was becoming desperate for a job. Ash held in breath, as he opened the final Bottle Mail. He took out the piece of paper and unraveled it. From his observations it appeared it didn't seem to be a hate letter so he began to read aloud.

"Dear Islanders,

Come to the Monetopia Circus! Join ringmaster Hamm and his amazing crew as they do death-defying stunts, tame wild beasts and just act plain silly. Our new star attraction, Putty, and his hilarious antics are sure to tickle your funny…"

Ash stopped reading.

"This is garbage, but since when does the circus advertise in the mail?"

"I've never heard of it." Marona commented.

Ash rolled it back and set it on the table. Then he walked to front door, located conveniently in the kitchen, and opened it. The three little Bottle Mail ran out. Marona smiled at them wobbling as they left. She then looked at the paper Ash crumbled and the paper he set on the table next to Sienna's note. She noticed something.

"Ash, the circus letter! Take another look at it."

"Huh?" Ash sounded.

"I think there is something on the back of it." Marona stated.

Ash walked over to the table and took another look at the ad. Just as Marona thought, something was written on the back.

"Possessed One,

Please come to the village of Terest. We are on a small island on the outskirts of the Island of Terra Firma. We will pay for your help."

"Terest, never heard of them." Ash said.

"Well, its job right?" Marona pointed out.

"Right, so I should hurry and get ready. Then we should hire some phantoms."

"Hire some? Aren't I a good enough phantom, Ash?" Marona asked in disappointed voice.

"Of course you're a good phantom, Marona, but we shouldn't take any risks. I don't want to want you to be on your own fighting monsters. What if you get hurt?" Ash concerned

"Ash, I won't get hurt. I'm already dead. Beside I only can feel pain as long as I'm confined, but when that's over so is the pain. I guess you could say it's like dying again." Marona smiled.

"Marona, please don't say things like that. It sounds so sad. I already saw you d…never mind. I'm gonna get ready." Ash walked up the stairs leaving Marona in the kitchen to wait.

Marona stood silent.


	2. New Teammates

Chapter Two: New Teammates

Ash and Marona both stood outside of their cute wooden house on Phantom Island. It was a spectacular day outside. A slight cooling breeze was rolling across the island and the sun was shining comfortably down on the world. Ash's long burgundy scarf twirled around with the breeze and his mustard yellow vest waved just as his hair did. Marona's clothes did nothing, they did not dance in the wind and nor did her hair. She couldn't even feel the faint rub of the wind. The only time her little golden-rimmed white dress made any movement was when she moved herself.

"It looks really nice out, Ash. Does it feel nice?" Marona asked, curious to know what Ash was experiencing.

"It's warm and breezy and the air smells salty." Ash replied quickly.

"Sounds good to me!" Marona exclaimed.

"Want me to confine you so you can feel it, too?" Ash offered.

"No thanks, don't worry about me, I don't want you to use up all your power just so I can feel the weather. Save it for the job." Marona politely declined as she pulled on her green wristbands.

Ash nodded his head at Marona then turned around. He was preparing to summon phantoms to the island. He concentrated deeply with his eyes closed, trying to tap into his power. It took much more out of him to summon phantoms than to confine. He had no trouble doing that and it was much less time consuming than trying to muster enough power to communicate with phantoms and bring them to the human world. Ash began to give off a soft white glow as his energy grew. His hands were balled at his sides as he tensed up. Quiet whispers began to echo on the island. Marona could barely understand any off the overlapped voices that spoke. Suddenly, blinding flash struck like a bolt of lighting in front of Ash. A phantom appeared. Again, another flash, another phantom. A final flash appeared bringing the last phantom.

Ash's glow began to fade and he opened his eyes. He saw the three phantoms he summoned. One was a tall knight, with silver armor and a brave look on his face that was almost covered by his helmet. Another was a short girl with a long black hair pulled back by goggles and a large, dull gray dress that seemed to dwarf her even further, she was a fusionist. The last phantom was fairly tall witch, wearing rather provocative red clothing lined with white fur. A hat covering her short, yellow hair, and arm covers matched the design of her dress.

The knight bowed to Ash with one knee on the ground and one hand on the ground, "I am truly honored you have chosen me to aid you. Please give me a name, for mine was forgotten at death."

His voice sounded young and strong.

The witch then spoke up with her loud and somewhat obnoxious voice, "Give me a good name. Something that sounds exciting and energetic!"

The fusionist was a little shy though; she spoke in a quiet but sweet voice, "Thank you for choosing me."

Marona giggled as she watched the phantoms treat Ash with such respect. She loved the way he connected so easily with the phantoms even though he was human.

Ash approached the phantom knight who was still bowing, "You're a very noble phantom and you deserve a fitting name. What do you say to Fremont?"

The knight lifted his head up and looked Ash in the eyes with a thrilled smile. "It's magnificent! I positively love the sound. Fremont. I thank you."

As Ashe stepped over to the witch phantom, Fremont picked himself up. He noticed the Marona standing by the house smiling at Ash. He winked at her and flashed a smile, she giggled.

"Make my name nice." The witch said to Ash with smile on her face.

"Well, you said exciting and energetic, huh? Hmm, you have some pep don't you? Pep…ah, that's it, Pepper!"

The witch laughed with joy, "That is so cute! It's a keeper!"

Marona watched Ash choose the names for the phantoms. He was so considerate of their feelings when he chose their names. Marona had a soft, joyous smirk on her face and a warm happy feeling in her heart.

Ash moved on to the last phantom, the little shy, fusionist. "Do you have any ideas of what type of name you want?"

The fusionist had her small hands behind her back and she was looking at the ground. "Well, I sort of wanted something that sounded...smart."

"I think I know the perfect name." Ash said kindly, "Do you like Ulima?"

The fusionist's little head perked up. "I think it sounds wonderful."

Now that Ash had given the phantoms new names they started to feel closer already. Now he had to introduce himself.

"it's great to have you three on the team! My names Ash and over there," he pointed to Marona, who was waving back, "is my close friend, Marona. She's also a phantom, by the way."

Fremont was curious about his other teammate and wanted to meet her. He walked over and introduce himself to the shy girl.

"Greetings, young madam." He bowed in front of Marona, she covered her face and giggled. "I am the noble phantom, Fremont!"

"Give it a rest Fremont!" A shrill shout sounded from behind, "The whole nobleman act is a kinda phony isn't it?"

Pepper was stomping over to him and Marona. "I don't remember you ever being a so dramatic when you where alive!"

Ash, who was headed on his way to Marona with Ulima by his side, suddenly stopped.

"You two know each other?" he asked in with some surprise in his voiced.

"Pepper turned around to Ash, "Yup, I know Mr. Knight here." She turned her head onto Fremont and gave a nasty look, "He got me killed."

Fremont stood up and turned to the sassy witch. "Pepper, why did you do that? I wanted to start new as a phantom."

"I'm sorry, but that act you had was just so disgustingly fake." She replied in a sweet sarcastic voice.

The knight growled at her. "Fine, then! I will stop with the act!"

"That's better!" She placed her hands on her hips and walked down to the beach.

"I'm sorry." Fremont said to Marona. "She's a little angry with me. Anyways, who are you?"

"I'm Marona, "she introduced.

Ash walked up to Fremont, "So you met Marona I see, and I noticed you have already met Pepper."

Fremont smiled nervously and motioned with his head for Ash to step away with him. Ulima walked over to Marona to get to know her.

"I'm really sorry about this. I didn't think she would still be upset about it. It happened some time ago.

"Don't worry about it, just don't let whatever happening between you guys hinder your performance. I'm really just surprised that I summoned two phantoms that knew each other." Ash replied.

"Um…yeah, well actually it shouldn't be a big surprise because we are kind of connected, her and I. It's kind of hard to explain, but let's just say we can't leave each other."

Ash did not understand anything Fremont tried to explain, but didn't bother trying he just accepted what he said and hoped that things would be clearer in time. Ash looked over at Pepper sitting on the beach looking at the ocean. Fremont noticed Ash's concern and reassured him.

"Don't worry about her, Ash, she just gets annoyed with me sometimes. I don't blame her. I mean, I did get her killed, but she'll be back to normal in no time."

"Ah..." Ash couldn't think of a response that wouldn't lead further into the awkward conversation.

Fremont quickly decided to change the subject. "Ash, so what kind of work are we going to be doing?"

Feeling a bit relieved now, Ash energetically spoke up. "You're about to find out. It's time to go on your first mission now."

"What? Now!" Fremont said with disbelief.

"Yup, let's get going."


	3. The Mysterious Foe

Chapter 3: The Mysterious Foe

Everyone sat silently inside the unusual sea craft that consisted of a large barrel for a hull and two large pontoons. Waves splashed against the front of the hull as the boat speed over the ocean. Inside the giant barrel, a loud hissing sound could be heard. It was the sound of the pontoons shooting out the steam that propelled the boat. Marona and Ash learned to live with it after traveling so many times in the craft, but the three news phantoms were still adjusting

"What is that sound?" Pepper asked Ash, who was busy steering.

"It's the pontoons." He responded.

"Why would pontoons make that noise do they have a leak or something?" Pepper asked in a whiny voice.

Ash nodded his head side to side at Pepper's persistent questions. Marona could clearly see he was not in the mood to talk. She decided to answer Pepper's questions for him.

"They are shooting out steam; I guess you could say they have a leak."

"Steam?"

"Yeah, this boat is steam propelled. The pontoons don't just keep it afloat, but they also carry a special liquid, similar to water, that shoots out steam when it is heated. The pontoons are heated by…"

"Ok, ok, I'm bored of the boat thing now." Pepper rudely interrupted.

Marona made a scowl at her and looked away.

"Pepper!" Fremont shouted in a scolding voice.

"What? I can't help it if I get bored easily."

"At least finish listening to her explanation before talking."

Pepper sighed. "Alright, Marona, will you finish you're boring explanation for me?"

"No! Not like that, besides it's too late to even ask."

"But you said…"

"Pepper, just shut up and apologize to Marona."

Another sigh exited Pepper's mouth along with a sarcastic apology, "I'm sorry that I can't listen to boring explanations about boats, Marona. Will you forgive me?"

Marona didn't even look at her.

Ash spoke up to Pepper, "Hey, Pepper what's wrong? You didn't introduce yourself to Marona and you are already being mean to her. Why?"

"You're right, Ash." The rude girl said sincerely and then turned to Marona, "I'm really sorry, Marona. I didn't mean to be so nasty to you. I just…I just, um, hate the, um…water."

Marona didn't feel completely satisfied with her apology, but her kind nature couldn't refuse it, "It's ok, but if you don't mind me asking, why do you hate water."

Pepper bit her lip and paused.

"I get seasick..." Her voice sounded more as if she were questioning herself rather than stating anything.

Fremont couldn't help but challenge her.

"Phantoms don't get seasick!"

"Shut up, Fremont! I have my reasons!"

"You never hated water before." He said with a confident smile.

Pepper didn't reply.

Everyone was silent for the rest of the trip.

Just about a half hour later they reached Terest. It was a very small island that housed one village. Ash instructed everyone to make themselves invisible. He also made it very clear to keep silent when he met with the villagers. They obediently listened to him and turned themselves invisible to the normal average human eye. Ash, though, could still see them. They then all exited the parked boat and made their way to the entrance of the forest.

Ash and his party walked along the man made path that lead to the village hidden amongst tropical foliage. He reached a fork in the road. Two wooden signs pointing in different directions were the only way to navigate past this fork. One of the signs was old and weathered from many years of guiding travelers. It was pointing to the right pathway and was labeled "Waterfall Cavern". The words were painted on with some sort of purple ink that seemed to be from a fruit. It was beginning to fade. The other was pointing to the left path and labeled "Terest Village". It was in much better shape than the other sign and the ink wasn't purple either it was a neat glossy black. It seemed that it was recently painted.

Ash commented on the signs, "Look at this, it's like they just painted this sign isn't it?"

He poked the sign with his finger as he spoke and a bit of wet black paint coated his fingertip.

"I guess they did just paint it." Ulima responded to Ash's action.

Ash chuckled, "I guess so. It's just a little odd."

He wiped the black paint back on the wooden sign. I smudged trail was left behind as he moved his finger across the wood. He spit a large glob of salive into his hand and used that to clean of the remaining paint.

"Ew!" Pepper sounded in disgust.

Ash smiled and began walking down the left path were the "Terest Village" sign pointed. Everyone followed Ash as he walked down the path. He crunch of dead dry leaves and small twigs on the pathway. The phantoms walked behind him. They made no sounds in their footsteps, no crunching of leaves, no snapping of twigs and no rustle of dirt. All that followed in their footsteps was an unearthly silence.

Marona looked around her at the trees and brush marveling at how beautiful the gorgeous greenery was. She wished she could feel what the leaves felt like on her skin, or smell the flowers that bloomed around her, but she couldn't until it was time for her to be confined by Ash. Still, even then, she had to accomplish her mission before her confinement time ran up if she wanted any free time. For now, she had to deal with the hollowness that all phantoms felt, a feeling of total neutrality that replaced their sense of feeling. It wasn't warm nor cold, painful nor pleasurable, but just empty.

Everybody continued down the path silently waiting for the village to appear around every turn that they approached. The trail seemed almost endless. As they walked the all th surrounding plants seemed to close in on them. The trail grew thinner and thinner and the trees moved in closer. Ash worked harder to push past all the brush. He wished he had a sword with him, but he did not even own one anymore. The sword that he once used to fight with alongside his parents was pawned for rent money along with Marona's old wand. They were completely weaponless. This was one point that Pepper felt she should bring up.

"Ash." Pepper asked with her arms crossed.

"Yeah?" he responded pushing a branch out of his way.

"How do we fight without any weapons?"

Ash continued to push through the forest as the phantoms behind him walked right through it with no effort.

"Well, we can't afford any weapons now, so just use your own strength for now. If oyu want, we I confine you, you can pick up a rock or maybe a plant."

Every body except for Marona looked quite shocked. Ulima's curiosity was especially sparked by Ash's odd statement.

"Mr. Ash, how would a rock or plant help us beat anyone?"

Ash felt the urge to share some of his knowledge with the phantom newbie.

"Well, it's actually quite easy for a phantom to do so. I can't myself take on anyone with such a simple item, but you can. You see, phantoms, once confined, can tap into the power of any item and use it for themselves. Every item, man-made or natural, has energy in it, some stronger than others, basically everything around you is a weapon. Of course, though, items that are actually weapons tend to be more useful because you can tap into their energy and then use it as it was meant to be used, but with enhance power. Make sense?"

Ulima looked a little dazed by the information intake.

"Um…" she said with one finger one the side of her cheek.

Pepper and Fremont seemed impressed by the explanation and were speechless.

Ash smiled, "Don't worry too much about it for now. Just pick up whatever you see laying around and the energy will just come to you naturally. Also, each object tends to have different type of energy depending of what it is. I don't know all of them, but what Marona and I have found so far is that plants seem to enhance magical abilities and stones enhance your toughness. I would try using stones first if you don't know any magic, its best to keep yourself with a tough defensive until we find out something that can enhance you strength or at least until we can buy you a proper weapon."

"Wow! Mr. Ash you sure know a lot about phantoms and the energies we can tap into. I didn't even know this stuff."

"You can thank Marona for everything we know. It's been all trial and error. Although, we have never actually done a battle like this before. We used to have weapons until just a few weeks ago."

"That's comforting." Pepper sarcastically commented.

Fremont made a low grunting sound at her.

"What, I was just kidding! I'm sure we'll be fine, besides Marona has already made most the mistakes for us."

Marona wasn't sure if Pepper was complimented her discoveries or insulting her many mistakes. She didn't say anything.

"I'm gonna use a rock for a weapon!" Ulima shouted happily.

"Me, too!" Fremont also shouted.

Pepper couldn't help, but join in.

"Rocks are for losers! I have magic skills, so I'm gonna use a cute little flower and blow their faces off with my shock spell!"

Marona walked up beside Ash, who was still struggling with through the thicket.

"Ash are you going to confine everyone at once or spread it out?" Marona questioned.

"Huh, why do you ask?" Ash responded with another question.

"Well, I was wondering if you would confine me close to last, so I could see the scenery and stuff."

"Why don't I just wait until after the fighting is done then confine you?" Ash suggested.

Marona didn't look satisfied.

"No." she protested, "I want to fight, too. Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't fight!"

"That has nothing to do with it." Ash said as calmly as he could. He hated dealing with Marona's stubborn attitude.

"Then what's wrong?" Marona whined.

She had a good idea of what his argument was going to be, but she hoped he wouldn't bring up the subject again.

"It's just because…I think that the phantoms should get some practice in the field. Just sit this one out ok? Next time you'll fight." Ash excused trying to get her to quite up about it.

Marona did not accept his reason and knew it had nothing to do about field practice.

"Ash, you're horrible, you lie to me right in my face. I haven't fought a single battle in months. The reason we are so far behind on rent is because you refuse to confine me. You keep trying to complete the job on your own. We have earned almost nothing from you soloing missions."

The three phantoms behind Ash and Marona were silent form the bickering. They felt guilty listening, but it was too awkward to talk.

"Marona, please let's talk about this later after we complete this job." The annoyed boy grumbled as a small warning.

"No, Ash, we will not complete this job unless you confine me. I will not go home with you!"

"Marona!" Ash shouted in anger turning to her with a vicious look on his face.

Marona jumped back. Her eyes were filled with sadness. Ash already regretted raising his voice. The pain in her eyes was there very thing he tried to avoid.

"M-marona…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shout."

The little green haired girl had her head hung low. Her arms were lightly crossed across her chest. She turned her back to Ash and walked back away slowly. Although he couldn't see her tears, he knew she was weeping.

"How cruel, a grown man making a little girl cry." Suddenly a crooked voice echoed in the forest.

"What the…who's there?" Ash shouted. "How did you see her?"

A speeding arrow pierced Ash's right shoulder. He cried in pain, falling down to his knees with his left hand grasping onto his new wound.

"Ash!" Marona ran to Ash and knelt down beside him.

She could see bright crimson blood gush through his fingers. It poured like a small river onto the ground.

"Possessed One, you fell right into my trap." The voice sounded again.

Ash looked up again through the blurred caused by the pain of the arrow. He could now see a man with a brown cloak approaching him. The man seemed to grow more contorted and blurred. A ringing sound echoed in his head along with the worried shouts from Marona and the other phantoms. He couldn't make out what they were shouting, but he could understand on thing that the man said.

"Just relax and let the poison take effect."

Those were the last words he heard before the fading world around him turned into an eerie blackness.


	4. Thorns of the Mind

Chapter 4: Thorns of the Mind

Ash wished he was alone. He wished that everything would disappear. He wished that the dark, ridged land surrounding him would vanish, the screams that echoed over the menacing gray hills would cease and that he himself would die. The land in which he stood on had pain and regret running through its veins and a heart of evil. The monstrous beating of the island's heart made him feel faint and defenseless, but most of all guilty. Even looking to the sky was not an escape. It was as painful to look at as the island itself, gray and lifeless. Ash remembered why this island was called the Island of Evil, although he wished that he would never have to recollect on these memories.

The screams of distress rolled through the hills like a river of anguish. Ash crouched down on the ground and covered his ears, with his eyes squeezed shut. The voices persisted. He could not block the shrieks of his family. A stream of tears flowed from the corners of his eyes and a twisted face of suffering made an appearance on his face. The voices grew louder the tighter his covered his ears. He could hear every agonizing sound from both his parents and Marona. He couldn't take anymore. He wanted to escape this world. With little hope in his heart he opened his eyes anticipating an exit, but instead was faced with the gruesome sight of a demon.

A giant skull like creature with a gaping mouth stood before him. For a body, it only had half a torso of bare bones and some meat. A torn spinal cord dangled with blood oozing down it dripping to the dusty ground. It was supporting itself on nothing but two skeletal hands, no arms, with two jagged bones piercing both the hands. Where the bones were stuck dried blood surrounded the holes. This demon seemed to be in no sort of pain, but anguish seeped into Ash's soul just by looking at the horrible beast.

Behind the demon there were three people, wielding weapons, a young green-haired man wielding a sword, a young blue-haired woman and a young, also green-haired, girl with a tall staff. They looked angrily at the demon that was facing Ash. It quickly turned to face them. Ash knew what was going to happen to them if they fought that monster, he saw it happen once before and he was determined to make sure it never happened again. He yelled at the three to back down, but they didn't seem at all stirred by his words. They didn't even look in his direction. In an instant the demon swiped its enormous hand at the young man. He flew clear across the land and with a loud crack he smacked against a rock and fell down heavily injured. Ash's eyes widened as he saw that horrible display of power.

"Haze!" The blue haired woman shouted as she ran to towards him.

The tall demon balled its fist this time and pounded the running woman. She was struck down and her mid section crushed. A trail of blood ran out of mouth and her lifeless eyes lay open staring at Ash.

"Mom!" he cried out.

He tried to crawl over to her but his legs wear frozen in place. He then tried to shut his eyes, but they, too, were frozen. He was stuck to observe the horrific display before him. He had to watch the death that pained him the most to watch. He had to witness everything again.

"Marona, get away," he yelled, "don't fight it! You'll die!"

The young girl still seemed set on fighting the beast. She stood at a bit of a distance, bracing herself. Her white dress began to twirl and flow as she worked up the power to cast a spell with her staff. Ash continued to yell.

"Marona, stop fighting! I never confined you! You can't fight unless I confine you!" Tears dripped down his cheeks and sadness coated his voice.

A red glow surrounded the young girl as she mustered enough power to fire off her spell. Suddenly, she shouted out.

"Giga Fire!"

A blast of flaming magma spewed form the tip of the staff. It was aimed straight for the monster ahead of her. Ash saw the burning ball of flame approach. The monster put up its hands in defense. It struck with a vicious explosion of energy. Now Ash tried to brace himself for the sight he would see next.

The skeletal hands of the demon lowered from its gruesome face. It eyes glowed with hatred for the little girl. She was the only one to convey a decent attack on the demon and yet it seemed to not damage it. It approached her slowly and furiously. The eyes of the girl wear swollen with terror. She tried to run, but fell face first into the gritty dirt. It again balled its fist ready for another smash. This time, though, it did not crush her torso, killing her. Instead it aimed for her legs. A grisly crunching sound crackled in the cold air, shortly followed by the pain-filled scream of a young girl. It picked up its fist and seemed to watch her struggle to crawl away almost as if it was toying with the poor creature for her attempted attack. Marona looked back, horrified at the monster, with a face full of black dirt filled tears. She stared in the red devilish eyes of her death watching her fight a losing battle for her life.

Ash broke out in tears as he saw the last look that Marona had on her face before her death. He would do anything to change the impending outcome, but he was powerless. With one hand the giant beast lifted Marona by her mangled limbs and raised its right hand. It stuck out one long crooked finger with a razor on the end in place of a nail. In one quick jolt back and forth it pierced the body of Marona. All Ash could see was the waterfall of blood and drops tears rush to the ground. Then the body of the girl was carelessly dropped to the earth. All of her blood drained to the ground through the yawning hole left in her in her stomach. Her once beautiful, pure, white dress stained with gore. She hacked up fits of bodily fluids as she tried to pick herself up, but collapsed under the weight of her own death.

"Marona!" Ash shouted in agony as he burst up from his nightmare.

Immediately, he gagged and raised his hand to his mouth to try and stop the vomit inching up his esophagus. His reflexes caused a shooting pain in his injured right shoulder. He didn't know what to do with his hand, hold the shoulder or his mouth. His indecisiveness led him nowhere as spewed out black vomit. He turned to his right side and leaned over to finish ejecting the black ooze onto the floor, which happened to be to be few feet below. It turned out that he was sitting on ledge. The short distance to the ground made him feel lightheaded and nauseated. Despite his sickly state he was in he was more worried for Marona.

"Marona!?" He yelled wearily, turning his head rapidly from side to side, "Where are you?" There was still a bit of vomit hanging in his throat making his voice weak and muffled.

As Ash looked around searching for Marona he noticed that he was no longer outside. It appeared that he was in a cave of some sort. A lone light hung from the ceiling above him only illuminating the immediate area surrounding him. The gentle sound of rushing water echoed off the dull orange cave walls, but the soothing hums didn't calm him. They made him more agitated as he developed an idea of the vastness of the caverns. Marona had to be located in cavern somewhere along with Pepper, Fremont and Ulima.

After his useless attempts at shouting he decided to take a better approach to the situation. Carefully, trying not to use his right arm, he turned his legs to the edge ready to step down from the ledge, but an unusual clanging noise made him pause. He looked down at his ankle and saw the metal chains that bonded him to the cave walls. A deep rage bubbled inside him as he saw the chains restricting him from finding his friends. He gave a quick strong yank to the chains, but not even the strength of his rage could change the durability of the metal shackles. It did nothing but cause more pain in his shoulder which he quickly grabbed in response to the soreness.

There was still blood on his hands from when he grabbed his shoulder earlier, but it was now dry and crusty. His shoulder also had dried blood caked around it, along with his yellow jacket. He felt a bit disappointed, Marona made that jacket for him, now it was stained with a new painful memory. He didn't care much for his long burgundy scarf. He had a spare, as his mother kept buying them for him. He never really started wearing them until after her death. He felt guilty that he never appreciated the things she gave him. He felt that if he the wore the goofy scarves, she bought him so often, he could alleviate some of the guilt. Although, it was a shame to lose one of the seven he already owned.

A sudden urge came over as he thought about his losses. He covered his eyes with his left hand and inhale deeply. He could feel it coming, but he didn't want to let it loose. He sat for a minute trying to hold back his weakness. He couldn't let his tears win another battle. He took more heavy breaths trying to contain his sadness. He knew that letting his grief win over him would not help Marona, it didn't help her in the battle against the demon and it wouldn't help now.

After a few moments he calmed down and began pondering the situation further, not that it helped him in anyway. A sense of shame and uselessness engulfed him as he realized that he was the only hope for his phantom friends. Ash, in a sudden burst of emotion, grabbed his injured shoulder and squeezed it. He moaned slightly, but tried to keep his shouts of pain silent. He felt better mentally after inflicting pain upon himself. It was what he deserved for his lack of action. For all he knew, the assailant could have powers over phantoms. He could be doing unimaginable things to Marona and Ash could do nothing to stop it.

Ash could fell his jacket dampening from the newly released blood flow he caused. He didn't care to stop the rapid flow from his body. Instead he just laid down on the stone ledge, beside him a growing pool of redness. Staring into the ceiling the sounds of faint sounds of water seemed to grow louder and more soothing. His eyelids were beginning to flutter. He wanted to close his eyes to rest, but he knew that if he did he would have failed Marona again, but then a sudden thought sparked in his mind. Maybe if he just closed his eyes slowly, everything would be fine. He would drift off into a deep sleep and wake up to the melodic chirping of Marona's voice. It would be just like earlier today when he wasn't in this mess. Ash's eyes slowly closed without his awareness and he drifted off into a sleep brought on by fear and anxiety.

What felt like mere moments later, Ash jolted up from his sleep. He didn't know how long he was out, but he was fairly sure it wasn't long. He could tell because his shoulder was still wet, but the bleeding had slowed down. He saw the pool of blood next to him and scooted away.

After sitting silently for a bit, Ash's ears perked up to an unusual sound echoing in the cavern. It was a clacking sound and it was closing in. Ash knew it was someone heading his way, the way the sound clacked with a steady pace, getting louder with each sound off. It was the sound of footsteps, but footsteps with some sort of footwear to make such a sound. It wasn't a sound he heard often, but it was somewhat familiar. It was the sound of high heels. He wondered why someone with high heels would be in a cavern, he knew it would be crazy to think that someone with those types of shoes would be in the in the same area, but the was positive that high heels were the cause of the clacking even though it was possible for it to many other things.

Ash looked in the direct the sound was approaching from anxious to see who would appear and why they were here. He wanted to get some answers from someone and he didn't care if the person approaching was there to cause him pain, he just wanted to hear some news on his friends. He wanted to know Marona was not hurt.

Seconds later, from the direction of the sound, arose a figure. It was shadowy and vague as it neared. The light from the tiny lantern above him was practically useless in uncovering his surroundings. Ash stared trying to make out whom or what was coming his way, but it was near impossible. He would just have to wait and see. More steps sounded and the closer it came until it stopped in the bare edges of the illumination. Ash could make out now who was there. He saw a woman barely lit up. She was wearing her hair up in a bun. It seemed to be either black or dark brown. She wore a long red dress that buttoned up in the middle and a bow was tied around her waist. It was quite large, but still subtle. What most stood out, though, was her face. She didn't look old, in fact she looked young, but she looked worn and stressed. Obviously, she was not in good health.

Ash was ready to burst out the one the one question that tortured him. He wanted to grab the woman by her weak shoulders and shake her until she told him everything he wanted to hear. Ash quickly realized, as he began to open his mouth, that the answer might not be what he wanted to hear. He immediately stopped his words before they were let out. Only a small gasp was let loose.

The woman silently stepped in front of Ash and looked him in the eyes. He gazed back. Her eyes, although meek, they were very calming. A slight smile jumped across her face as she lifted up one hand and placed it on Ash's wound. Ash jumped back a little, but he didn't feel threatened for some reason. His gash started to feel warm. He could do nothing at stare at the woman's hand placed on his shoulder. In his mind he was having second thoughts about letting her touch him, but he didn't feel the need to listen to those thoughts. After a minute his shoulder became numb along with his whole right arm lost feeling. The woman gently lifted her hand up with his blood blotched on it. Then she spoke.

"Your shoulder…It's better now."

Her voice was raspy and weak. She softly wheezed between words.

"Uh…" Ash wanted to respond with gratitude, but his mind was blank, he couldn't fit words together.

She calmly shook her head from side to side with a slight smile. She then knelt forward placing her head next to Ash's ear and again spoke.

"Please…kill him…"


End file.
